Ancient Greek Tragedians Trivia Quiz

Answer: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides

The correct chronological order is : Aeschylus (525 BC-456 BC) Sophocles (c.496 BC - 406 BC) Euripides (c.484 BC- 406BC).

Answer: Eleusis

Aeschylus, the first of classical Athens' tragic dramatists was born at Eleusis, close to Athens, while Sophocles was born at Colonus, near Athens as well. Euripides was born at Athens or maybe in the Island of Salamis.

Answer: Yes

Previous to him, Greek drama was limited to one actor and a chorus engaged in a largely static recitation. By adding a second actor with whom the first could converse, Aeschylus vastly increased the drama's possibilities for dialogue and dramatic tension.

Answer: Yes

He increased the number of members in the chorus and added a third actor.
The chorus was a group of actors who responded to and commented on the main action of a play with song, dance, and recitation.
The actor could assume different roles by changing masks and costumes, but in the beginning he was limited to engaging in dialogue only with the chorus.

Answer: Aeschylus

Aeschylus' plays are of lasting literary value in their lyrical language, in the intricate architecture of their plots, and in the universal themes which they explore so honestly. Aeschylus' language in both dialogue and choral lyric is marked by force, majesty, and emotional intensity.

Answer: Aeschylus

"The Persians" is unique among surviving tragedies in that it dramatizes recent history rather than events from the distant age of mythical heroes. The play treats the decisive repulse of the Persians from Greece in 480, in particular their defeat at the Battle of Salamis.

Answer: Euripides

Euripides is regarded as the forerunner of the modern psychological drama. In "Hippolytus", in fact, and in "The Bacchae", for example, he explores the psyche of men attempting to deny a natural life-force such as sexuality or emotional release. In another timeless classic, "Medea", he takes a penetrating look at the frenzied jealousy of a woman.

Answer: "Ajax", "Antigone", "Oedipus the King", "Electra", "Women of Trachis", "Philoctetes", "Oedipus at Colonus"

Only seven of Sophocles' tragedies ("Ajax", "Antigone", "Trachinian Women", "Oedipus the King", "Electra", "Philoctetes", and "Oedipus at Colonus") survive in their entirety; all are works of his maturity.

Answer: seven

Aeschylus wrote approximately 90 plays, including satyr plays as well as tragedies; of these, about 80 titles are known. Only seven tragedies have survived entire: "The Suppliants", "The Persians", "Seven against Thebes", "Prometheus Bound", "Agamemnon", "The Libation Bearers", "The Eumenides".

Please note that I do not agree with modern theory that attributes "Prometheus Bound"("Prometheus desmotes", in Greek) to another tragedian, maybe Euphorion, one of Aeschylus' sons. In fact such a theory is not proved right now.

On the contrary I agree with classical scholars Albin Lesky (A History of Greek Literature) and Gilbert Murray (Aeschyli Septem quae supersunt tragoediae, Oxford University Press) who attribute "Prometheus Bound" to Aeschylus, though it's difficult to date this play.

Answer: Yes

After producing his masterpiece, the "Oresteia" trilogy,i.e. "Agamemnon", "The Libation Bearers","The Eumenides", in 458 Aeschylus went to Sicily again. The chronographers recorded Aeschylus' death at Gela (on Sicily's south coast) in 456/455, aged 69.

A ludicrous story that he was killed when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his bald pate was presumably fabricated by a later comic writer. As for Euripides,his death, which took place in 406, at the court of Archelaus, king of Macedonia, who was a noted patron of the arts, was, like that of Aeschylus, in its nature extraordinary. Either from chance or malice, the aged dramatist was exposed to the attack of ferocious hounds, and by them so dreadfully mangled as to expire soon afterward, in his seventy-fifth year.